


Diner Date

by cheerfulparadigm



Series: The Diner That Never Was [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 03:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20284963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheerfulparadigm/pseuds/cheerfulparadigm
Summary: It’s nearly 11:00 p.m. when Saïx’s phone buzzes from his bedside table—three rapid-fire texts with Axel’s name above them.saïx.saïx i’m locked inside the restauranthelp i don’t have a key





	Diner Date

**Author's Note:**

> based on an au my friends and i came up with in which everyone in organization xiii works in a diner. 
> 
> i've very recently been inducted as a Kingdom Hearts Fan™ and i love axel, saïx, and the sea salt trio with my whole heart.
> 
> un-beta'd as always.

It’s nearly 11:00 p.m. when Saïx’s phone buzzes from his bedside table—three rapid-fire texts with Axel’s name above them.

_saïx._

_saïx i’m locked inside the restaurant_

_help i don’t have a key_

Saïx barely bit back a sigh. The one time he took a night off…

**Axel, care to tell me how this even happened?**

_larxene and i were closing and she locked the door while i was in the bathroom and now she’s gone 🙃_

_xemnas doesn’t trust me with a key so now i’m trapped_

_please come get get me_

Saïx furrows his brow, but he can't say he's surprised. Ever since they met as kids, Axel’s fiery nature was always getting him into trouble. And as his best friend—and clearly the more responsible half of their duo—it always became Saïx’s job to bail him out.

He’s already reluctantly tugging on his shoes as he pecks out a response.

**Is there not a spare key in the office?**

His friend’s reply is almost immediate.

_please, if xemnas doesn’t trust me with a key he DEFINITELY doesn’t trust me enough to leave his office unlocked while i’m working_

_you’re the only person i could think to text_

Saïx let out a breath. Axel would keep bugging him until he relented, so he admits an early defeat.

**Alright, I’m coming.**

_yes! you’re the best, saïx._

Saïx smirked in spite of himself.

**And you better remember it.**

Saïx shrugs on a leather jacket that hung by the door. Axel had left it there years ago and never bothered to get it back. And Saïx never bothered to return it.

Starting up his meticulously-clean Prius, he turns down the dark streets, abandoned and barren as the city sleeps around them.

His car slows as the familiar route finally takes him to The Diner That Never Was. Axel’s beat-up sports car sits at the edge of the small parking lot—decades old and dented with red paint chipping all over. Saïx’s headlights catch the scuffed-up flame decals that lined the side. (He remembered how wide Axel’s grin was when he showed it off, gesturing grandly in the middle of Saïx’s driveway.)

He finds the diner’s key on his key ring as he steps towards the tinted glass of the double doors, unlocking it with a click.

The restaurant is eerily silent as he steps inside, only broken by the quiet chime of the bell above the door.

“Axel?” he asks the empty restaurant.

No answer.

“Axel, please, it’s late.”

Still nothing.

Sighing, he felt for the light switch by the host stand, flicking it on. “I swear to god, if you make me come find you—“

Saïx’s words stop on his tongue as his eyes land on the table in the middle of the restaurant, laden with food. Saïx’s favorite wine sits chilling in a bowl of ice and two empty plates and glasses sit on either side.

Behind it all stands Axel, leaning on the back of a chair, crooked half-smile plastered on his face. “Did I scare ya?”

Saïx blinks, brow furrowed. “What’s,” he gestures vaguely around them, “all this?”

Axel grins and runs a hand through his hair, disheveling those ridiculous red spikes. “Date night.”

Saïx deadpanned. “You had me come all the way out here—to the restaurant we work at—for a date?” Then his brain caught up with his words. “Wait, this is a date?”

Axel lets out a chuckle. “I’ve been trying to get this to happen for months. But you’re such a stick in the mud that I could never get you to go out anywhere with me. So I compromised.”

Saïx steps closer to the table. He could see the piles of curry and rice laid on the diner’s tacky plates, takeout boxes from Saïx’s favorite Indian restaurant only half-hidden under the table.

Axel’s eyes are bright when he catches his gaze again. Something about it was…sweet in its own way.

“So Larxene…?”

“I _may_ have told her to go ahead without me.” Axel pulled the wine out of its bucket, uncorking it and pouring it into the glass nearest Saïx. “She didn’t care enough to ask questions.”

A wine glass was slid into Saïx’s hand and his lips curled into a smile without his explicit permission. “You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met.”

“And I always will be. Get it memorized.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i might write a little series of oneshots in this au; we'll see.


End file.
